Many older adults are interested in smartphones. However most of them encounter difficulties in self-instruction and need support. Text entry, which is essential for various applications, is one of the most difficult operations to master. In this paper, we propose Typing Tutor, an individualized tutoring system for text entry that detects input stumbles and provides instructions. By conducting two user studies, we clarify the common difficulties that novice older adults experience and how skill level is related to input stumbles. Based on these studies, we develop Typing Tutor to support learning how to enter text on a smartphone. A two-week evaluation experiment with novice older adults (65+) showed that Typing Tutor was effective in improving their text entry proficiency, especially in the initial stage of use.

We present InfoFinder, a novel interface running on wearable devices that allows a user to perceive information using a simple finger-framing gesture. InfoFinder works in combination with a see-through head-worn display (HWD) and a smartwatch. Whenever the smartwatch detects a user's finger-framing gesture, it activates the HWD to extract the finger-framing area and display recognized object's information. InfoFinder avoids continuously tracking with the HWD camera, offering the advantages of fast, easily intuitive information acquisition as well as decreasing the possibility of misrecognition. An experiment shows InfoFinder responds in a timely manner to information acquisition requests (4.1 seconds), more than 5 times faster than using an HWD's conventional controller. We also verified that the task success rate of InfoFinder was improved by 32.8% compared to a reference prototype using real-time gesture tracking on the HWD.

A 1 Gbit/s optical wireless interface for a mobile phone is designed and in particular, the conditions of the diameter of the photodiode and NA of the condenser lens are cleared. A prototype of the instantaneous file transfer system with the interface, which can be attached to a mobile phone, is then fabricated based on the design. The receive-area diameter of 14.3 mm and the receive angle of 31 degrees are experimentally obtained at a transmission distance of 50 mm. 100 MB file transfer between the interfaces attached to the mobile phones is successfully carried out at a transmission distance of 50 mm without a single bit error and in less than 1 second.